X-T1 JPEG Sharpening Settings; Pros And Cons

Amtrak Train 67 at Williamsburg, Virginia; JPEG file; Sharpening applied in LR (click to enlarge)
X-T1. 50-140mm f/2.8 lens @ 68.7mm; 1/400th sec. @ f/11; ISO 400

One of the things I really like about photographing with my Fujifilm X-T1 is the quality of the JPEG images created in-camera.  Fujifilm gives us many parameters to adjust and each of us has probably settled on one or more film simulations and associated settings that go along with each.  I've very seldom heard or read about anyone who doesn't like the JPEG renderings from their Fujifilm camera.

However, one setting is worthy of some additional discussion.  That is the 'sharpening' setting.  After a time experimenting with the various settings, I settled on a +1 setting for sharpening as a standard for me.  Plus 1 seemed to provide an amount of in-camera sharpening that looked about right to me, in a general way.  That setting produced a sharpening effect very similar to what I would have applied during editing of a RAW image.  Using this setting, as a general rule, would allow me to send out JPEGS without additional editing.  

100% crop; no in-camera or LR sharpening applied (click to enlarge)
When checking focus on the LCD, one may mistake this for not being
in focus when actually the softness is due to no sharpening applied in-camera.

As time passed and I made many, many JPEGS (along with RAW files), I began to notice that when it came to sharpening, one size didn't necessarily fit all.  Different images had different uses and one sharpening setting didn't serve all of those different purposes as best it could. Some images were for viewing on a computer screen.  Some were printed at different sizes.  As we know, the amount of sharpening an image needs is largely dependent upon its final use and form.  

If I were applying sharpening to individual images, the sharpening settings I would have applied would have been a bit different than the blanket +1 for which I had my camera set.  Additionally, I use masking when applying sharpening so as to not sharpen those areas of an image that shouldn't receive it, such as a plain blue sky or other areas of little or no detail.  I don't want to apply sharpening to smooth tones that have no detail.

Again, I started experimenting with different sharpening settings. Some of that experimentation included setting my JPEGs for basically no in-camera sharpening.  On my X-T1, the closest I could get to that was -2. I then would apply sharpening in Lightroom CC. The sharpening applied in LR CC was better, or maybe more sophisticated (to my eye) than the in-camera "one size fits all" sharpening.  As I mentioned, I could also apply masking to be able to not sharpen areas that don't require it.  But there was one downside.

100% crop; no in-camera sharpening applied; sharpening applied in
Lightroom CC (click to enlarge)

I found when setting the in-camera sharpening to -2 and then when checking my images on my LCD screen for correct focus and sharpness, I found they didn't appear very sharp.  Of course not. No sharpening applied to the JPEG rendition on my LCD screen at which I was looking. One has to realize that or go mad thinking that none of one's images are sharp!  The JPEGS don't look great out of the camera and when checking the LCD, one has to train one's eye a bit to understand that the images are sharp, there is just no sharpening applied to the JPEG at which you may be looking.

So, here is my compromise.  I think that the +1 sharpening setting is still about right for me, as a general setting.  However, I like the idea of sharpening individual JPEGs in Lightroom as it is more precise and each image gets a specific treatment.  For now, I'm going to leave my sharpening setting at -2.  However, if I need some "out of the box" JPEGs that look good, I can always use my RAW Converter in-camera and apply sharpening to the RAW image on a case by case basis as needed.  Again, the in-camera RAW converter comes in very handy.

I may be a bit more picky than some of you.  However, if I have such high quality tools as the X-T1, the Fujifilm lenses, Lightroom, etc., why wouldn't I take just a little extra time to maximize the final quality of my images?  But that is just me.

Just FYI.

Thanks for looking. Enjoy! 

Dennis A. Mook 

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